what was watergater all about anyways just want to understand?

Question

I have never know I think I was only 12 or 13 at the time and like to understand. I always understood President Ford did the right thing Just like to understand does anyone know anything about watergate would you tell me any information. What do you know about it?

Answer 1

To much for me to write so check out this site
http://www.watergate.info/

The Burglary

Watergate has entered the political lexicon as a term synonymous with corruption and scandal, yet the Watergate Hotel is one of Washington's plushest hotels. Even today, it is home to former Senator Bob Dole and was once the place where Monica Lewinsky laid low. It was here that the Watergate Burglars broke into the Democratic Party's National Committee offices on June 17, 1972. If it had not been for the alert actions of Frank Wills, a security guard, the scandal may never have erupted.

Chronology of Events

The story of Watergate has an intriguing historical and political background, arising out of political events of the 1960s such as Vietnam, and the publication of the Pentagon Papers in 1970. But the chronology of the scandal really begins during 1972, when the burglars were arrested. By 1973, Nixon had been re-elected, but the storm clouds were building. By early 1974, the nation was consumed by Watergate.

Richard Milhous Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon is one of the most fascinating political figures of the 20th Century. His long political career began in 1947 when he was elected to the House of Representatives. By 1952, Nixon had been chosen as Dwight Eisenhower's vice-presidential running mate, but not before he was embroiled in a scandal that led to the infamous Checkers Speech.
Nixon served as Vice-President for eight years, then lost the 1960 election to John F. Kennedy. He recovered from political defeat to be chosen again as the Republican Party's candidate at the 1968 election. Following a year of turmoil, including two political assassinations, Nixon became the nation's 37th President on January 20, 1969. Later that year, he delivered his 'Silent Majority' speech on the Vietnam War, articulating his belief that the bulk of the American people supported his policies and programs. He was vindicated by winning a landslide re-election. He was sworn in for a second term in Janury 1973.

Answer 2

The term Watergate scandal refers to the attempt by Richard Nixon's Republican Party administration to covertly spy on and harass political enemies, such as war protesters, that led in 1972 to a break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.. The burglars aim was to plant listening devices, while disguised as common criminals to provide cover. They were informally called the "plumbers unit" to "plug leaks", and included former members of the CIA. Though then-President Nixon had endured two years of mounting political embarrassments, the court-ordered release in August, 1974, of a "smoking gun tape" about the burglaries brought with it the prospect of certain impeachment for Nixon; he resigned only four days later on August 9. He is the only U.S. president to have resigned from office.

The difference between Watergate and Clinton's' Whitewater, Rose Law Firm, Mena Airport, alleged selling nuclear secrets to China for campaign money, alleged Insider Trading with Cattle Futures, and many others, is that after spending over forty million dollars on the Starr investigation, there was no proof or even any evidence these alleged crimes ever took place. There was plenty of proof of Watergate and the cover-up including taped conversations of the President and his closest advisers.

Answer 3

The basics: members of the Committee to Re-elect the President (CREEP, yes, that was their name!), Nixon's campaign, were found breaking into the Democratic campaign headquarters in the Watergate hotel. Nixon denied knowing about it, even though many members of his administration were convicted and forced to resign. Eventually, a judge ordered Nixon to turn over the tapes he had kept 24/7 of the oval office, but Nixon refused, citing executive privilege. The Supreme court ruled against him in Nixon V. US, and the night before he turned them over, his secretary 'accidentally' wiped portions of the tapes. Her excuse, however, did not hold up in court, because due to the positioning of the tape machine on her desk and the phone which she claimed to have answered causing her to accidentally put her foot on the erase button was physically impossible for anyone but a master gymnast. The longest of those erased spots was slightly over 18 minutes.

In the end, Congress was about to impeach Nixon when he resigned in 1973.

that's just the very brief version. I would watch the movie "all the president's men" to get it through Woodward and Bernstein, the two Washington post reporters who broke all of it. if you want, there are quite a few books as well.

Answer 4

Pres Nixon had some people on his reelection campaign team bug the Democratic party HQ in DC. and they got caught. He then tried covering up and got caught. Like most political scandles, the coverup was more explosive than the event itself. Ford rightly pardoned Nixon after his resignation to stop the scandal and help get the country back on track. Unfortunately the biggest fallout of the whole fiasco was the election of Jimma Carter in '76.

Answer 5

Watergate was nothing compared to the Clintons' Whitewater, Rose Law Firm, Mena Airport, selling nuclear secrets to China for campaign money, Insider Trading with Cattle Futures, and many others.

Here's the Difference: The News Media Hated Nixon----But They Loved Clinton.

It's not what you do in life, IT'S WHO YOU ARE that counts.

Answer 6

nothing compared to the 57 trillion debt this country ran up in the last 6 years....in another 30 years or so you can ask about that.

Answer 7

republican nixon stole some crap from the democrats. the news surfaced a couple years after he was elected. when he found out, he resigned, and then ford took over. being the corrupt buddies they were, ford "pardoned" him, even though he should have been sued.

Answer 8

Theft and then trying to hide it

Answer 9

a botched burglary!